Alumina powders are widely used is many areas of industry and life such as for supports of catalysts, adsorbents, additives, in the ceramic industry, fillers and others.
There is a need for alumina supports with high BET surface area and pore volume combined with a suitable bulk density, stability and ability easily to accommodate additives. One can refer to such alumina supports as enhanced alumina (EA). Simple alumina powder manufacturing methods are also needed.
Dawsonite, sodium aluminum dihydroxide carbonate (NaAlOH)2CO3) and its alkali metal and ammonium analogs are useful compounds that either occur naturally or are synthesized by a variety of processes which in the prior art have taken place in aqueous medium. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,157, dawsonite was produced by combination of aluminum hydroxide and an alkali metal or ammonium hydrogencarbonate at high pressure and at temperatures between 150° and 250° C.